Hi fellows!

I am a bit disappointed about the waterproofing ability of the tents. I have a Marmot Swallow. It is a very practical tent! I love its versatility, space, ventilation and high quality in general. It was absolutely waterproof, even when the rain was so heavy that a flood of a few centimeters was formed on the ground.

I bought it 6 years ago and I have used it for 230 nights approximately in any kind of weather: a lot of sun, downpours, strong winds and a little bit of snow. The last time I used it, I noticed that it's not waterproof any more. Water was leaking through the fly and it was getting in the inner tent through the roof. It seemed it was not leaking through any seams, but straight through the fabric! I could see the drops of water.

I visited the outdoor shop from which I had bought my tent and I was very disappointed when the shopkeeper told me that this is absolutely normal, because the UV radiation polymerizes the tent's plastic. He said that mountaineers use these tents only in one expedition on the high mountains! High-altitude speeds up the polymerism of the plastic. Maybe half of the times I 've used my tent, it was on high-altitude, I should say.

When I bought such an expensive tent (430 euros), I expected it to last many years. Unfortunately, according to that shopkeeper, I should buy another tent and waterproofing sprays won't make any difference on my tent. I have never treated my tent with a waterproof spray. Maybe the worst is that the shopkeeper told me there isn't any kind of fabric which will be waterproof after many years of camping. According to him, we should buy a new tent every once in a while, but I hope that's not true!

Do you have any experience with that? Is there a tent that you have used a few hundreds of nights and it's still absolutely waterproof on heavy rains?

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Asia, 27 months, 73,000 km. - Africa, 3 years, 96,000 km. - Honda XR 250 - http://madnomad.gr